This invention relates to the cleaning of textile mills and more particularly to an improved traveling cleaner system for textile mills.
Traveling cleaner systems such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,304,570 and 3,422,481 assigned to Parks-Cramer Company have been widely used in textile mills for removing lint and other fibrous waste from textile machinery and from the areas of the textile mill surrounding such textile machinery. As disclosed in those patents, such cleaner systems typically consist of a cleaner unit with a housing containing one or more blowers that provide an air blast which dislodges the lint from the textile machinery so that it might be collected by a suction. The cleaner unit travels above the floor of the textile mill at a uniform speed. In some cleaner systems, the cleaner unit is mounted on a crane bridge that travels reciprocally on rails over rows of textile machinery, while in other systems, the cleaner unit is mounted for travel along an overhead track or monorail that extends over the floor of the textile mill.
In some instances, certain areas of a textile mill may require more thorough cleaning than other portions of the same textile mill. For example, the weaving of certain types or styles of fabric may generate such a high level of lint and/or fibrous waste at particular portions of a loom that the lint or fibrous waste accumulates on the loom despite the periodic cleaning provided by the traveling cleaner system. U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,117 to Gleaton suggests that more thorough cleaning may be achieved by varying the volume and velocity of air discharged onto different portions of the textile machinery. However, this approach is not practical for some applications, especially where there are sensitive components on the textile machinery which would be adversely effected by higher air volumes or velocities.